Automobile-headlight



H'. 9.1. THOMPSQN.

AUTOMOBlLE HEADLIGHT. APPLICAT|0N-FILED JUNE 23, 1919.

5.36%439, Paume@ Feb. 1,1921.

unirse stares PATENT GFFECPE.

AUTOMOBILE-HEADLIGHT.

Application led June 23,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known'that I, HOWARD R. J 'IHoiiiL soN, a citizen of the United States, and resident of lVashington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automobile-Headlights; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specication.

This invention relates to lamps and particularly to headlights generally in use on automobiles and has for one of its objects theprovision of a headlight with a reflector of such a construction that none of the rays of reflected light will be projected upwardlyv a sufficient distance to affect the vision of a person approaching the vehicle. This object is accomplished without the necessity of blocking off any of the reflected rays of light, with the resultant advantage that thc lighting efficiency of the lamp is not reduced.

A further object is to so construct the lamp as to give ita very neat appearance in that the entire front edge portion lies in a vertical plane, the paraboloidal surface of the reflector, which is essential in` this type of lamp, being so arranged that its directrix, lies in a. plane angularly disposed to the vertical.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a lamp constructed `in accordance with the present invention and Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

The embodiment illustrated in the drawings includes an outer casing 10, the front of which is entirely open and substantially elliptical in cross section, the front marginal portion being turned inwardly to form an annular flange 11 againstwhich the lens or transparent member 12 and a flange 13 of the reflector 14 is secured by an elliptical band 15 which is attached to the casing 10 in any preferred manner. Casing 10 is also provided with an aperture for a socket 16 Yfrom which extend the wires 17 leading to the electric lamp 18 suitably mounted in reflector 14.

The principal feature ofthe present invention, however, is the formation of thereector 14 which is so constructed that while Specification of Letters Patent.

Patenten Fee. i, 192i.

1919. serial No. 306,141.

to the roadway, thus giving the lamp a high `illuminating power.

The reflector 14 may be described as havf ing a reflecting surface consisting of an inner orbowl portion 19 which is paraboloidal 1n contour and .an outer portion 20 forming a continuation of the inner portion 19. Preferably, this outer portion 20 differs in formation from the inner portion in that it extends in straight lines tangentially from the inner portion, the diametrically opposed portions thereof diverging from the axis, indicated at 21, of the inner paraboloidal portion. As stated, the outer portion 20 of the reflecting surface, preferably extends in straight lines, but if desired, said reflecting surface may be slightly curved, such a construction being deemed to be within the scope of the present invention. The'directrix of the linner'paraboloidal portion 19 is disposed at an angle to the vertical and the length of the outer portion 20 gradually increases from the top of the reflectorto 'the bottom thereof so that the front edge 22 of the reflector lies in a vertical plane.

The directrix ofthe paraboloidal portion being disposed at an angle to the vertical, the axis of said portion is inclined so that the rays reflected by this portion will be directed downwardly and the outer portion 20 will also reflect the rays downwardly and will tend to concentrate them. With such a construction none of the reflected rays and,n

only one-third of the unreflected rays can' pass upward a sufficient distance to affect ones vision, but these unreflected rays, of course, do not have the blinding effect that the reflected rays have.

Furthermore, the outer portion 20 of the reflecting surface being so constructed that its front edge 22 lies in a vertical plane gives the lamp, as a whole, a very much neater ap'- pearance than a lamp of the usual construction, tilted downward, would have.

What I claim is:

An automobile head light comprising a casing, a'source vof light within the Same, a,

reiector having me axis of its reflecting surpendicular 5to the axis o f the refiector and face arranged to direct each ref iected ray of having its flanged marginal face in a vertical light from said source of light downwardly plane, and means overlying said flanged face 10 to the roadway, said reflector having a cenand having frictional engagement with said 5 tral parabolic portion merging, into a tancasing for closing the open side of said gential outer portion of constantly increasreflector.

ing cross sectional' area taken in planes per- HOWARD RMT. PSON. 

